A new paper by MIT professor Catherine Tucker, mansplained by The Regulatory Review for readers befuddled by math, concludes that private firms and infrastructure providers cannot be relied on to curb the spread of disinformation and extremism. Rather, regulators must act to create uniform guidance for content moderation on digital platforms.

Putting “free speech” in scare quotes to dog whistle the right-wing nature of the problem, Professor Tucker points out that “moderation of problematic individuals and communities—particularly those rife with misinformation— has become a significant policy challenge in recent times.”

Are you now, or have you ever been, problematic?

Experts in cahoots with unaccountable government agencies are the only people we can trust to scientifically determine which credible, nonpartisan, totally objective sources like the New York Times can be relied upon to never spread disinformation.

The paper brandishes an intimidating math salad to examine the consequences of Amazon’s deplatforming of Parler. Pulling the plug was not enough because ignorant and easily misled extremists flocked to other social media platforms that proved even harder to control. Experience has shown that even Big Tech’s clandestine collusion with multiple federal agencies will never be enough, especially after losing control of Twitter to a problematic billionaire.

Further study is required to construct a foolproof system that will empower non-problematic people on the right side of history to silence problematic people intent on destroying democracy by exercising their “free speech.”